


District 9

by eristhewitch



Series: District 9 Series [1]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Background Character Death, Bisexual Lee Felix (Stray Kids), Fear, Fear of Death, Feelings Realization, Growing Up, Heavy Angst, Internalized Homophobia, Major Character Injury, Matter of Life and Death, Mentions of Violence, Minor Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Near Death Experiences, Non-Idol AU, Reality hurts, Supernatural Elements, Unrequited Crush, death of a minor, felix is a bisexual babie who just want some love and kisses, slight lee felix/han jisung
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:15:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26835055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eristhewitch/pseuds/eristhewitch
Summary: All Bang Chan knows is one day he fell asleep in his nice warm bed after his parents bid him good night and he woke up in a strange all white room in clothes he was definitely not wearing when he fell asleep. That was 18 years ago and since then seven other boys had joined him. The longer they stayed the less they remembered of their past selves. While doing his daily chores one day Chan notices something out of the ordinary, convinced it’s a sign they’ll be able to escape he immediately rushes to inform the others. Will this be their opportunity to go through with their years worth of escape plans? Or are the eight boys destined to be trapped in District 9 forever?(i'm sorry i absolutely suck at writing summaries, i promise the story will be better than the summary T^T)
Series: District 9 Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1962076
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	1. Prologue: In The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This part will be much shorter than the rest of the chapters as this is only the prologue and i want to use it to introduce you all to the basic plot, the characters and so on. i promise the rest of the chapters will be more than like 3k words lmao.

_“Good night darling, see you in the morning. Don’t forget to wake up early for swim practice alright?” Chan couldn’t see the face of the voice, but he just knew it was his mother._

_“Yes mom, I will.” Chan confirmed tiredly, he sounded like himself, but not. A lot younger._

_“Good, I love you sweetheart.”_

_“Yeah, yeah. I love you too mom.” He sounded a little annoyed but he truly meant it, if only he knew, he would’ve made himself sound more sincere. The sound of his mother closing his bedroom door as she gently shut the door prompted Chan to close his eyes and let the darkness lull him into a peaceful and relaxing sleep._

Moments later Bang Chan woke in a cold-sweat, calling out for his mother. Slightly dizzy and disoriented from his sudden awakening, sitting up way too fast, Chan held his head for a moment before opening his eyes and recognizing he was no longer in his childhood bedroom. Instead he was in the plain white room that he had grown too familiar with. On top of that, he wasn’t a child any more, rather, he was a full grown man.

Just a dream. The exact same dream he had every damn night. The only memory he had of his life before waking up in the four blank walls he now called his room. At least he thinks it’s a memory, for all he knows it may be _just_ a dream. He used to be able to see the woman’s face, but like years fade photos, so does it fade her face from his memory until it was covered in the imaginary shadows of his dreams. 

Chan rubbed his hands over his face and groaned, standing , he walked over to the freshly laid out clothes that sat atop the nightstand of his room. White. Everything was white. His clothes, his room, his bed and his lamp. The nightstand in the corner and the curtains on the boarded up windows. The boards of the windows painted white. Everything white. Bang Chan threw off the old clothes he wore and slipped the new ones on, folding and setting the old ones onto the nightstand where they would be collected later, before he returned to his room at the end of the day. Once dressed and had his room all straightened out, Chan left his bedroom to wake the other 7. As Bang Chan roamed the hall to go wake his younger companions he began to think of the time they have spent here. Of how and when each boy joined Chan as he grew.

First was Lee Minho, about a year after Chan had been brought there, Chan had just turned six when Minho first arrived. He was a quiet, wide-eyed, child. Only a year younger than Chan, he showed up around a year after Chan had. As he grew he didn’t change much, just like Chan, the only thing that had really changed was that spark of life. The hope of ever escaping this place.

Next to arrive was Seo Changbin, he was quiet and shy, he barely spoke to the older two boys. Only muttering soft little thank you’s whenever they lended the five year old boy a hand with his chores. Changbin grew into a pretty quiet adult. He seemed quite scary on the outside but he was far from such. However as the years went by, he too, as the two boys before him, lost the hope of ever getting out of District 9 and back to the family he barely remembered.

Shortly after Changbin, arrived Hwang Hyunjin, contrast to the first three, Hyunjin was quite a loud and excitable boy, though he was very confused and scared to have been taken away from home, Hyunjin quickly warmed up to the three elder boys and quickly adjusted to his new life in District 9. 

Not long after Hyunjin came, only a few months in fact, much different to the close to year long wait, came a pair of boys. Han Jisung and Lee Felix. The two were so similar that the four older boys were surprised that they weren’t twins. Though loud and energetic, Felix was a little shyer than Jisung, but both boys were wide-eyed, loud, friendly, and most importantly, absolutely adorable. However, poor Felix didn’t know any Korean, unlike the other boys. Luckily Chan was able to help him and teach him over the years. Unlike the four before them, Jisung and Felix never really lost that bright spark in their eyes, they never lost hope that they would one day escape and get to see their families again. 

Only weeks later, Kim Seungmin appeared. By now the boys realized each of them were arriving by birth date. Each of them arriving a few weeks after their respective 5th birthdays. Seungmin was shy but he wasn’t very quiet, he was like a puppy. Of course it didn’t take him long to warm up to the other boys and quickly he became much less shy. 

Like clockwork, a few months later came five year old Yang Jeongin. Jeongin. Their sweet little one that grew up way too quickly for their liking. Jeongin was a wide-eyed, terrified, five-year-old boy when he was brought to District 9. It took him almost a full year to trust the other boys. Jeongin was petrified, rightfully so, he was in an unfamiliar place and no longer was able to see his beloved parents. The other seven tried their best to comfort the little one to the best of their abilities as children themselves, Chan would always tell Jeongin’s stories and tuck him into bed every night with the promise of getting them out and back to their families. As Jeongin grew into the 19-year-old man he is now, he slowly began to realize that Chan’s promise was probably one of the empty variety. 

After Jeongin no one else showed up. He was the last, it was just the eight boys and whoever, or whatever, else was here with them. 

The eight grew alongside one another, slowly forming an unbreakable bond. After being stolen away from their families, they formed their own family with each other. It was them against the world, them against whoever, or whatever, was keeping them trapped here. 

As much as they wished and hoped that one day they would escape, they all knew that it was next to impossible. They each had been here for over 10 years, there was no way they’d be able to escape, especially when they didn’t even know why they were there in the first place. What was so special and interesting about the eight of them that they were stolen from their families. 

Chan couldn’t wrap his head around it, although the boys were amazing people, they weren’t really anything out of the ordinary; though Jeongin’s dolphin scream did sometimes leave the boys wondering if the youngest was some kind of banshee with how loud he was. It just didn’t make any sense, they were all regular people. Each of the eight often spent their nights awake in their monochrome rooms wondering why they were there, sometimes crying alone, sometimes crying together. 

They hated how they could no longer picture the faces of their loved ones, some of the men not even remembering if they had siblings or not, how many they had, if their parents were together, or if they were seperated. It frustrated them sometimes and they have all learned it was best not to think about it, it only led to them getting hopelessly upset. 

Reaching the door closest to his, Chan banged on it with his fist.

“Time to get up Minho!” He shouted to the man behind the door, getting a response of an annoyed but compliant groan. Minho was one of the easier men to wake up and by the time Chan reached Changbin’s door, Minho was dragging his feet out his bedroom, trailing behind his older friend. 

Repeating the action with Changbin’s door, Chan shouted;

“C’mon Bin, you gotta wake up, it’s already 6:15!” Chan was met with an angry groan and some loud shuffling. Minho sniggered behind the slightly shorter man. 

“He’s in a good mood today.” Minho commented. 

“He’ll be more cheerful when he eats... hopefully.” Chan replied, making his way to his least favourite person to wake up’s door, Hyunjin.

Hyunjin was quite the heavy sleeper, not only was he hard to wake up but the man was **not** a morning person. Even after years of waking him up, Chan still dreaded this part of his morning routine. He took a deep breath and held it as he pounded his fist loudly off of Hyunjin’s door, yelling loudly as he did in hopes to wake the soon-to-be-grumpy 20-year-old.

“Hyunjin! It’s time to get up! Come on! Get up!” Bang Chan bellowed. Hearing no movement in the room behind the door, Chan continued to pound his fist onto the door and scream at the younger man. 

“Dude, come on you have to get up! We don’t have all day to stand here and wake you!” This seemed to finally crack through Hyunjin’s lull of sleep, Chan and the other two could hear some slight rustling before a tired and pissed off looking Hyunjin stood tall in front of the three of them. 

“I get it, I’m awake now, jeez.” He groaned, stepping past the three to make his way down the hall.

Before Chan, Minho, Changbin and Hyunjin could reach the next two doors, Jisung and Felix bust out on their own, bright smiles on their faces as they both greet their elder friend’s good morning. 

“Good morning!” Jisung cheered in unison with Felix. _Ever the sunshine twins_ , Chan thought.

“How can you two be so damn cheerful? It’s six-o-clock in the fucking morning.” Hyunjin groaned at the two boys. 

“We do it to balance out your bitterness.” Felix shot back with a smile. 

Waking the last two was fairly easy, it only took a knock on the door and a simple, “good morning” to wake Seungmin. As for Jeongin, all it took was a knock on the door for him to come bursting out. 

The eight made their way downstairs together to the cafeteria to get their breakfast. Grabbing their trays they lined up to have random food slapped onto plates, once they were all served they made their way to the table and sat down, eating in a comfortable silence. 

“You know, as I was going to wake you guys I was thinking about when we all got here.” Chan said suddenly.

“Yeah, you’ve been her for what, eighteen years now? Right?” Jeongin asked.

“Yes, eighteen years.” Chan responded. It was surreal to him. It had really been 18 years since he had last seen his family, 18 years since he had seen the actual outside world. 

“Do you think our parents gave up on finding us?” Jeongin asked softly, he already knew the answer to his question.

“Probably, but it’s nice to think they haven’t.” Jisung replied. 

“I wonder how they’re all doing.” Felix sighed.

“Me too, do you think they’d recognize us? I mean we’re all adults now, we were five when we woke up here...” Hyunjin added.

“I’m sure they would recognize us...” Minho said quietly. 

“There’s no use worrying about it now,” Chan started, “c’mon, let’s finish our food, get our daily scan and then go do our work.”

“Don’t forget our monthly physical exam is today too.” Changbin added.

“Shit I forgot about that.” Changbin groaned. “I hate the monthly physicals, it always feels like they’re checking us to see if we’ve developed super powers or something.” 

“C’mon, finish up, the quicker we can get today over with, the better.” Chan spoke firmly, pushing his half empty tray away from him slightly. He just wanted to get the day done and over with. The faster the better, just 24 hours. So much could change in 24 hours, so much _could_ , but it never did.


	2. Chapter 1: Hope and Fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hii!! i'm sorry it took so long to write and post this chapter^^' i'll try to be more consistant with posting (keyword try haha) anyway, i hope you enjoy it!!

_“Mommy! Mommy! Look at what I found!” A tiny Felix called as he ran towards his mother._

_“Wow! That’s very interesting baby, where’d you find it?” His mother asked, picking Felix up into her arms as she sat on the sand. It was early evening and the sun was just setting when Felix had begged his mother to take him to the beach. She had wanted to refuse, with the excuse of ‘sweetie it’s getting late, you have school in the morning’ but sure enough, she couldn’t resist the wide, begging eyes her son gave her. She knew how much Felix loved the beach. To run around and splash in the water, chase helpless seagulls and crabs and capture weird little creatures he found on the shore, but_ **_always_ ** _remembered to return them to the ocean if that’s where they belonged. Felix was nothing if not a sweet and caring little boy. Small and innocent and just wanted to spend every day at the beach with his family and the little critters he would find._

_“I founded it over there on the big rock!” Felix exclaimed joyfully, in his hand he held a big, at least when compared to his five-year-old hands, starfish._

_“Okay, well we need to go so can we go put Mr. Starfish in the water so we can go home and get you washed up and ready for bed?” His mother asked softly, a wide smile on her face._

_“Okay mommy!” Felix all but screamed as he wiggled from his mother’s arms and ran over to the water, he trudged in up to his knees before smiling down at the creature in his hands._

_“Bye bye Mr. Starfish! Have a safe trip home!” He shouted at the starfish before throwing the creature into the water._

_Once Felix returned his mother wrapped him in a towel to dry him off and carried him to the car._

_Felix stared out the window on the drive home as he did every time he was in the car, watching the same view he had seen a million times with as much awe as if it was his first. Felix’s mother peaked at him through the rearview mirror and smiled, the boy really was just joy personified._

_Once home, bathed and fed a snack Felix was ready for bed and happily complied under the circumstance that he got to choose out his own pajamas tonight. It didn’t take long for Felix to get himself ready for bed, eager to go to bed so tomorrow would come faster and he’d be able to see his friends and have fun at school._

_In record time Felix was snuggled up under his covers, giant octopus plushie, about twice the size of Felix, in hand as his parents bid him goodnight with a kiss, a hug and a promise of his favourite breakfast in the morning._

_Of course that cooking went to waste when Felix’s mother had went to wake her precious son in the morning only to find he was missing from his bed without a trace, his beloved octopus plushie, affectionately named “Ollie”, left helplessly on the floor, Felix’s sheets and blankets strewn about the bed and the floor beside it._

_Like any mother would have done, she panicked, where was her baby? Why didn’t she hear him struggling last night? Was he safe? Is he scared? How could she have not heard his tiny cries and sobs for help as he was whisked away from the home? So many questions ran through the woman’s mind as she frantically searched the house for any sign of her beloved son, calling his name in hopes that he would appear miraculously before her eyes and reassure her everything was okay._

_Of course wishes like that don’t come true and by the end of the day, after searching in the hot Australian sun for hours with friends, family, police and community members Felix was nowhere to be found. He had vanished without a trace. Hours became days, days became weeks then months and then a whole year. Somberly celebrating the young boy’s 6th birthday alone, Felix’s mother and father had lost all hope of finding their son, and not a week later, on the anniversary of his disappearance Mr and Mrs. Lee held a funeral for Felix. They spoke of how joyful and vibrant he was, family members spoke of how gentle and caring he was. Friends spoke of how thoughtful and wonderful Felix was. The neighborhood babysitter spoke of how sweet he was, how he always listened and was such a joy to take care of and play with. Mrs. Lee reminisced on all the times she had taken her darling son to the beach, when he would disappear into the horizon, only to return no longer than 15 minutes later with some sea creature he wanted to take home to be his new best friend. She remembered the books about marine life and marine biology she had bought Felix for his 5th birthday. How he begged her every night until the night he disappeared for her to read him that book as his bedtime story._

_Felix also remembered the night he was stolen very clearly. Not even an hour after he had settled down into his bed, memories of his trip to the beach not even three hours ago still fresh in his mind as he prepared to dream of fun sea creatures to play with, Ollie pulled close and wrapped up in his small arms. Just as he began to drift off, images of dolphins and friendly sharks beginning to appear in his young mind, Felix was startled from his sleep by a man in all white snatching him from his bed. His screams cut off by the gloved hand covering his tiny mouth. Felix sobbed into the strange man’s hand as he tried to grasp for Ollie who fell to the floor after just barely grazing Felix’s tiny fingers. Seconds later all Felix saw was black and when he came to he was laying in a bed with someone else, four older boys standing over the bed looking down at Felix and the mystery boy._

_As soon as Felix's vision focused properly and he curled up into himself fearfully, the other boy next to him still fast asleep, thumb in his mouth as he drooled in his slumber. Felix looked up to the older boys as they began to speak, but he couldn’t understand them. Was this a nightmare? It certainly felt like it. Felix began to sob again, confused and afraid he began to shout at the four boys, pulling his knees to his chest and covering his ears._

_“Stop it! Leave me alone! I want my mommy!” He bawled. The talking died down into a whisper before the tallest boy gently placed a hand on Felix’s shoulder and began to speak._

_“You don’t understand Korean?” He asked, his voice soft and comforting. “Are you from Australia too? You sound Australian.”_

_Felix looked up at the boy as he hiccuped and sniffled, nodding. The older boy smiled at him and nodded._

_“My name is Bang Chan or Chris Bang, that right there is Minho, that small shy boy hiding behind him is Changbin, we call him Binnie and that is Hyunji-”_

_“I’m Hyunjin!” The last boy shouted loudly._

_“M-my name is Fe-lix.” Felix hiccuped quietly._

That day replayed in Felix’s mind often. He found himself thinking of it a lot, wondering how his parents were doing. He found soon after that the boy he had woken up to next was Jisung, now one of his best friends. On that day Jisung had woken a few minutes after Felix had calmed down. He was confused and still tired and immediately began to panic, where was his mommy? As quickly as Jisung began to panic, Chan calmed the five-year-old with ease. 

Since then Felix often found himself having dreams, maybe best described as nightmares, about that night he was taken, his own screams and sobs flashing through his memory as he slept. He found, after a few months, he wasn’t alone in his nightmares, Chan had similar ones. It was comforting to know he wasn’t alone when it came to his frequently occurring dream. Although that dream was still terrifying he held onto it dearly, it was the only memory he had of his life before he was stolen, and for all he knew it may not even be a memory. Felix often wondered what nicer memories he had stored away deep in his brain that he was unable to access. 

“...Lix? Felix?!” Chan’s voice called out.

“Hm? Sorry, I spaced out. What’s up?” Felix asked, looking up at the oldest boy from his tray of food. 

“We have to go do the daily scan now.” Chan replied softly, taking Felix’s mostly empty tray for him.

“Oh, okay, I’ll go lineup then.” Felix replied, nodding as he did. He quietly thanked Chan for taking his tray as he walked back to his room, standing outside the door, lined up down the hall with the others next to him. Felix never understood the point behind the daily scan, it’s not like they could escape and it seemed like, for the most part they were alone here in District 9; so what was the point? Felix was once again pulled out of his thoughts by Chan. He peaked up to see Chan rolling the cart down the hallway, starting with Jeongin, gently grabbing the youngests wrist and scanning the barcode tattoo that was there, permanently reminding the eight boys that they were not their own anymore. 

As fast as it started the daily scan was over and the boys were left to resume their daily chores and prep for their monthly physical exam that was before dinner. 

“Hey ‘Lix, can you come help me with the garden again?” Changbin asked as the other boys split up, going their separate ways to go do their chores, a blank look on his face. 

“Yeah of course.” Felix replied, his signature bright smile gracing his features as he looked at his older brother. 

“Great, thank you so much. I hate going out there by myself, it’s so creepy.”

“Yeah, it is. It almost feels.. fake. It’s also kinda dark in there for some reason. I thought flowers needed sunlight to grow. But no sunlight gets in here, it’s all spotlight.” Felix said, an exasperated sigh leaving his lungs.

“How did you know that flowers need sunlight?” Changbin asked, his face contorting in surprise.

“I uh… I read it in a book from the library.”

“But there’s no books about-”

“I snuck into the locked up section with Jisung while cleaning a few weeks ago. Changbin hyung there's so many books about the world outside of the district. There’s.. There’s rain! It’s water that falls from the sky, and, and there’s big like.. giant things of water called oceans that have things living in it. Under the water!” Felix explained, excitement written across his features.

“That’s.. that’s amazing Felix. But you shouldn’t be reading those, it’s only going to make you want for things we can’t have. We can’t escape from here.” Changbin explained with a sigh.

“I know but… I don't know, something about the ocean is just.. So cool, so… enchanting.” Felix gushed, to Felix the ocean was something he longed for, he couldn’t explain why but the ocean, it’s possibilities, it’s mystical creatures, everything about it just captivated him. 

Changbin chuckled at Felix’s words, he liked hearing the younger talk about something he has never experienced, something he’s never seen, with so much adoration and passion. 

“Maybe the ocean was a big part of who you were before… you know.” Changbin suggested with a gentle smile.

“Maybe…” Felix pondered, a soft smile spreading across his face. “I like to think it was.”

Arriving in the garden with Changbin, Felix looked around. Everything around them appeared in a greyscale, black and white, and often Felix genuinely questioned whether colour existed or not but was reminded it did, in fact, exist. He was reminded whenever he would look down at his hands, often littered with small bruises and cuts, red markings from over using his hands for hard labor. Palms covered in blooming purple and blue bruises, fingers covered in bright red markings, knuckles sometimes bloodied with a deep red shade. He was reminded by the different shades of brown his and the others’ hair was. He wondered what other colours existed outside his own body. Deciding not to dwell on it for too long, Felix brought his attention back to Changbin. 

“Okay, you know what to do right?” Changbin asked him. Felix replied with a nod. Of course he would, they’ve been taking care of this garden the exact same way everyday for as long as they’ve been here. 

Grabbing a watering can Felix wandered around one of the bushes to the water tap. Turning it on and waiting for the bucket to fill he peered around the area, of course he knew it well, he had been here a million times. Some areas were dark, covered in shadows, the artificial light not hitting those spots, especially late at night. 

“Felix?” A voice called, causing Felix to whip his head around in confusion. He couldn't see anyone. 

“Hello?” He called back cautiously.

“Lixie can you not see me?” The voice replied. _Minho?_

“No?” Felix answered, his face morphing from cautious fear to pure confusion. 

Out of the shadow stepped Minho, how did Felix not see him before? It wasn’t pitch black in the shadows. Felix brushed it off and smiled at the elder.

“Maybe my eyesight is just getting bad.” Felix said to himself with a chuckle. “ Anyways, hey Minho hyung, what’s up?” He questioned happily.

“Chan said the physical exam is starting earlier today. We need to go now, we’ll do our chores later.” Minho replied, “how did you not see me? I was only like two metres away from you.” 

“I don’t know, I guess my mind was playing tricks on me or something.” Felix answered with a laugh. Minho replied with a simple nod and began to walk with the two younger men to the building across from the one where they slept and ate. The building wasn’t much, it was just a big open space where they did their monthly physical exams. 

Reaching the building where the rest of the boys were already gathered, Felix waved to them. Standing in the circle with them, waiting for the automated voice to call one of them in for the exam.

“Hey Channie hyung, the exam is pretty early today.” Felix said. 

Chan turned to the younger and nodded.

“Yeah it is, I got a note on my bed when I was gathering clothes from our rooms to bring to the laundry bin. It said exams were early and that later we’re all supposed to do our chores together.”

“All eight of us?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s weird, that’s never happened before.” Felix said curiously.

“Yeah, it is, I don’t know why thou-”

 _“Bang Chan, please enter the examination room.”_ The automated voice called over the speaker. 

“Coming robot lady.” Chan replied in a mumble, making the others laugh. 

Felix watched as Chan walked up to the doors, standing on the designated waiting plate, waiting for the heavy doors to open. Seconds later they opened and Chan stepped through, the large doors slamming closed behind him once he had entered.

“I wonder what would happen if one of us went when someone else is called.” Jisung questioned.

“What do you mean, hyung?” Jeongin asked.

“Like.. say Minho hyung is called and Hyunjin stepped up. Would the door still open?” 

“I don’t see why they wouldn’t, I mean it doesn’t seem like we’re scanned before we walk in.” Seungmin replied, adjusting his glasses as they slipped down his nose a little. 

“Should we test it?” Hyunjin asked.

“The physical exams are tailored to us individually though,” Seungmin reasoned, “we can’t have someone else do the exam for us.”

“It’s fine Seungmin, we can just have the person who is actually supposed to do the exam stand right next to other so they can go in afterwards.” Jisung said with a smile.

“Hm, it does sound interesting to try. Let’s do it.” Minho said with a smile. “Changbin when it calls me you stand on the plate.” He directed.

“Sure hyung.” The younger replied, nodding. 

After another twenty or so minutes, Chan emerged from the building, covered in a thin layer of sweat, face flushed. 

“How was it Channie?” Felix asked.

“It was.. alright.” Chan replied in between labored breaths

 _“Lee Minho, please enter the examination room.”_ The automated voice called once again. This time Changbin stepped onto the plate, Minho standing right next to him, off of the plate.

 _“Lee Minho, please enter the examination room.”_ The automated voice repeated. The boys looked around at one another in slight shock as Minho replaced Changbin on the metal plate, the doors opening moments after, once again closing as soon as Minho was inside.

“How did it know it wasn’t Minho hyung?” Hyunjin asked.

“Maybe by his weight?”

“That wouldn’t make any sense, our weight isn’t consistent, plus, we get weighed once we’re in there.” Chan argued.

“Right.”

“Maybe.. maybe someone is watching.” Jisung suggested.

The exam came and went, it felt like minutes but also felt like hours as the guys each took their turns doing their physical exams. The eight gathered to begin their chores again, the tasks being completed much faster when the eight of them worked together to do them rather than the usual one or two of them doing a chore at one time. Completing all but one of their chores, the eight headed back to the main building for dinner.

“I still can’t believe it knew that it wasn’t Minho hyung on the plate.” Jisung blurted as they all sat at the table. 

“Yeah, it’s kinda creepy, it makes me think that maybe we are being watched at all times, maybe we really aren’t alone here.” Seungmin said.

“Yeah, now that I think about it, we’ve never really questioned anything but… how does Chan hyung get those notes on his bed… and who makes our food, washes our clothes…” Hyunjin said.

“But why don’t we ever see anyone?” Changbin questioned.

“Because they’re watching us, they know where we are at all times so they know where to go and how to avoid us.” Jisung stated.

“Ji, stop that, you don’t know that for sure, you’re just going to freak everyone out.” Chan retorted. “It’s probably just a coincidence is all, this place is kinda big and we’re always out doing chores. Plus, we were brought here, we didn’t come on our own so obviously there’s probably someone who comes and checks on us occasionally.” Chan reasoned.

“But why us? Why did we have to be taken from our families? Have the memories of the people we loved slowly disappear? It’s not fair.” Jisung whined. “I don't remember what my parents look like, if I even have any, or if I have siblings! We’re not special! I want to go home!”

“We all do Jisung! None of us remember our families, none of us want to be here! But we are, and you’re going to have to live with that because there’s no way we can leave!” Chan snapped, slamming his hands down onto the table, causing the other seven to flinch and look at the eldest in fear. Chan looked at all their horrified faces and closed his eyes, face visibly relaxing as he took a deep breath, looking back at Jisung who had tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry for yelling Sungie, but we’re all unfortunately stuck here. There’s nothing we can do so we have to make the best of it and live with it okay? I didn’t mean to yell or scare you.” Chan explained calmly, looking at Jisung with a gentle, sorry look. The younger nodded and wiped his eyes.

“Sorry for getting upset hyung.” Jisung whispered out.

“Don’t apologize Ji, it’s okay to be upset, we all are.” Chan reassured.

“We haven’t completely lost our families,” Felix spoke, causing the others to look at him in confusion. “We have each other, the eight of us. We’re family now.” He explained.

“That’s a great way to look at it Lixie, thank you for that.” Minho said with a smile, gently ruffling Felix’s hair.

“Yeah, you’re right Lix.” Jisung smiled. 

Dinner continued on without anymore bumps in the road and the eight cleaned up after themselves, gathering outside to finish the last of the chores, once again in the garden.

“Alright. Lix, Jeongin, you two fill up the water cans, Changbin, Ji and Hyunjin you three get rid of any weeds you see. Seungmin, Minho you two come with me to check everything is growing properly.” Chan instructed, the seven younger men nodding at his command and going to go do as told. 

“Do you think our families have forgotten about us?” Jeongin asked Felix as they walked together. Felix shook his head in reply.

“No, I don’t think so. I mean… a missing child is hard to forget. I think… maybe they forget we’re missing, and they may call out to us and then they remember, but I don’t think they’ve forgotten us.” Felix explained.

“I guess you’re right. I wonder what my family is like.” The younger pondered. 

“I bet they’re amazing just like you Innie.” Felix smiled. 

“Thanks Lixie… Hey, can I talk to you about something?” Jeongin asked shyly, cautiously.

“Of course, anything.” Felix replied.

“I.. I keep having these dreams…”

“That feel like memories?” Felix questioned. Based off of his and Chan’s experience with nightmare-ish dreams that potentially contained memories of their lives before being taken, Felix wouldn’t be surprised if Jeongin also experienced the same.

“No.. no, like… dreams of us leaving. They’re recurring.” Jeongin explained. “I don’t… I don’t know why I keep having this dream, it’s the exact same every time.” He said.

“That’s probably because you really want to leave Innie, it’s nothing to worry about.” Felix reassured.

“You’re right, thanks Lix. Talking about it made me feel a lot better.” Jeongin smiled.

“Of course Jeongin, I’m always here to help.” 

After ten or so minutes Chan came over, looking a little uneasy. He was slightly out of breath and looked confused and scared all at the same time. Felix and Jeongin looked at the oldest in worry.

“Channie, are you okay?” Felix asked.

“Uh, yeah, I uh.. I forgot I didn’t finish a chore earlier, so I’m going to do that really quick, I already let the others know. I should only be a few minutes.” Chan explained.

“Huh? Okay.” Felix nodded and Chan took off. It was odd, Chan never forgot his tasks, he was always consistent and usually the first finished with his chores. _He’s only human, he makes mistakes._ Felix reassured himself. Even if Chan did seem off, it was probably just because he felt bad for forgetting to finish his chore. There was nothing to worry about, nothing at all. Felix repeated that in his mind, but for some reason his gut was screaming at him, telling him something was wrong. Something was off. 

Just as the feeling began to subside, Chan came running back, panting and out of breath. A mix of emotions written all over his face, confusion, fear and… hope? 

“Guys, we need to talk…” Chan said.

Bonus:

“Most of them have shown little to no progress sir.” The voice of a woman said. “The results are similar to last month’s and the months before. Minho has shown slight improvement in his abilities but nothing too noticeable, what would you like us to do Mr. Kang?”

“I’m unsure.” Mr. Kang responded. “Dr. Yun what do you suggest?”

“Well sir, they aren’t going to show much progress if they don’t know what they’re being tested for. We can’t tailor their tests to them perfectly without exposing what the tests are actually for.”

“So for all we know they may never improve or discover their abilities?” Mr. Kang replied. 

“Precisely sir, and if they do discover their abilities it could easily spell doom for us.”

“Because they’ll be able to use said abilities to escape.”

“Exactly Ms. Gim.”

“Make any adjustments you can to their tests. You’re dismissed.”


	3. Chapter 2: Questions Answered and Unanswered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WEE WOO WEE WOO!! hello there!! :3 first off, thank you so much for waiting patiently for this chapter, it took me quite some time to figure out how to write it, writers block is so mean. second, and this part is VERY IMPORTANT so please read it, i had put in the tags that there is the death of a minor in this story, this chapter is the one that includes said minor's death. It is important to the plot of the story so it's something I would prefer you don't skip. the description isn't too graphic but the warning is there nonetheless. if you cannot read that section of the chapter i will have a note at the end with a short summary of what happened as well as markings of where it starts and ends! ("-caution-") :) thank you so much again for reading and i hope you enjoy!! (i also apologize, a lot of this chapter is dialogue lmao and if you see a spelling mistake... no you didn't)

_ “Mommy?” Jeongin asked quietly as he pushed open the door to his parents’ bedroom. The young boy wiped his eyes with his sleeve as he tried to keep his sniffles and cries to a minimum, trying not to wake his older brother whose room was right next to their parents’. _

_ “Yes sweetie?” The tired and soft voice of Jeongin’s mother responded, he could hear her shuffling in the bed to get out, walking over to the door where her five year old son stood.  _

_ “Another nightmare Innie?” She asked, her voice gentle and calming. Jeongin replied to her question with a nod. Of course it was another nightmare, the same one he had every time he went to sleep, whether it be during bedtime or naptime, that nightmare of him being stolen from his bed plague his small mind, causing him to wake up screaming and crying. Most nights he would go to his parents’ room to sleep in bed with them after waking the first time.  _

_ “It’s just a nightmare darling, don’t worry. Mommy won't let anything bad happen to you.” Jeongin’s mother would reassure, picking him up into her arms. The woman closed the door behind her and carried Jeongin over to the bed, laying down with the five-year-old on her chest. Jeongin cuddled into her, sniffling quietly while calming down. Jeongin’s mother began to think, sure, kids had nightmares. There's nothing odd about that but Jeongin has been having nightmares constantly for over a year now. Surely that wasn’t normal, but the poor woman couldn’t figure out why. She couldn’t recall anything traumatic happening to her youngest son, especially not traumatic enough to warrant the five-year-old’s mind to be tormented with nightmares every time he tried to sleep.  _

_ Often Mrs. Yang would find Jeongin forcing himself to stay awake during the night, it caused her extreme pain to know her precious son was suffering so much yet she could do nothing but comfort him while he was awake. She never knew what the dream was about, she had tried asking once but Jeongin couldn’t explain through the tears, she decided not to ask again after that.  _

_ Jeongin was out like a light now, his mother wasn’t sure if she should stay awake just in case he woke again,after a few seconds of mental debate she decided that it would be best to stay awake and be able to wake him immediately if he showed any signs of discomfort or fear. The woman wished more than anything to take away the fear Jeongin often felt, she’d do anything to get rid of those nightmares.  _

_ Morning came around and Jeongin was able to stay asleep for the rest of the night, Mrs. Yang had fallen asleep accidentally around four in the morning, now that he was awake, Jeongin seemed to be feeling a lot better, playing on the living room floor with his older brother, car and truck sound effects leaving his adorable mouth as he crawled around, toys in hand. Jeongin’s parents had decided that a day out with Jeongin and his brother would be beneficial, a good distraction for the youngest of the two boys. After breakfast the two boys raced upstairs to get dressed for the day out and although tired, Mrs. Yang was excited to spend the day with her family. The day was filled with laughter, smiles, and despite the cold, mid-February weather, ice cream, and when the end of the day rolled around, Mr. Yang was carrying a half-asleep Jeongin in the front door, a sleepy smile on the toddler’s face.  _

_ Jeongin’s mother tucked him into bed after getting him cleaned up, kissing his head gently she smiled down at him.  _

_ “Sweet dreams little one.” She spoke softly, though she knew the chances of her statement being true was far from possible, she had a small glimmer of hope. _

_ “Mommy… please don’t let the scary men in white take me from my bed.” Jeongin spoke, his tiny, sleepy voice wavering in fear as his mother’s eyes practically bulged from her skull. _

_ “The… what?” _

_ “The scary men from my dreams mommy. They come into my room and take me from my bed.” _

_ “They won't do that darling, I promise.” Mrs. Yang said. _

_ In the morning she regretted her words. Sure moms broke their promises to their children all the time, like a promise of ice cream for breakfast or to get an extra treat, not promises of keeping their babies safe. So when Mrs. Yang woke in the morning, having not been interrupted from her sleep like usual, she had hoped that Jeongin finally had a nice dream, the sinking feeling in her gut told her otherwise. Walking into Jeongin’s room made her heart drop to her stomach, it had looked as if someone had ransacked the poor boy’s room, Jeongin’s sheets, pillows and blankets tossed everywhere around the room, books from his shelf knocked over and his toy chest tipped, spilling toys everywhere, some spots of blood on the bed and floor. It took a few minutes of looking around the disaster of a room for everything to register, and when it did Jeongin’s mother let out a heartbreaking scream, tears flowing down her cheeks as she ran from Jeongin’s room, desperately calling for her baby, pushing everything out of her way as she rampaged through the home. She flipped the house upside-down before running out, still in her pajamas, calling for Jeongin. Her feet bare as she ran around the street, calling out to Jeongin, alerting the neighbors that something was wrong. And there, in the middle of the street, Mrs. Yang broke down into hysterics, falling to her knees as she wailed. She had failed to do her job as a mother, how did she not hear Jeongin screaming? Surely he must’ve been crying loudly for her, he must hate her now. She had promised him not even twelve hours ago that no one would steal him from his bed, and that’s exactly what had happened.  _

_ Mr and Mrs. Yang called for the day off from work, pulling Jeongin’s older brother out of school for the day and sending him to his grandparents while they, along with some of the neighbourhood and the police, searched for Jeongin. So many thoughts ran through his mother’s mind, he must be freezing, it was mid-February and she doubted whoever took him would’ve provided the child anything warm to wear. They searched all day and well into the night when an officer approached Mr. and Mrs. Yang, a forlorn look on his face. _

_ “I’m sorry Mr. and Mrs. Yang, we cannot find your son, we will continue the search over the course of the next few weeks but the chances of finding him are very slim. Please prepare yourselves for the worst outcome if we find him.” The officer spoke mournfully, being direct with the two adults.  _

_ “Isn’t there more you can do?! Call in the military or something, my  _ **_baby_ ** _ is missing, officer!” Mrs. Yang bellowed, her voice cracking, she didn’t want to give up, not yet. _

_ “I’m sorry ma’am, there’s not much else you or the public can do, leave this up to us for now, we’ll continue to investigate until there are no more leads to investigate, the case may end up cold.” The officer explained. _

_ “Let’s go home and try to get some rest darling, us being sleep deprived isn’t going to help find Jeongin, we’ll continue looking for him in the morning okay?” Mr. Yang said softly to his wife, holding her close as she choked back sobs. _

_ Over the course of the next few weeks the searches for Jeongin by the police began to grow smaller until there were none at all and his case became cold.It infuriated Mrs. Yang to see the people who should be helping her find her baby give up so easily and she began to continue her search alone.  _

_ “Junghee look!” Mrs. Yang shouted to her husband from the kitchen table. He came over and stood behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. _

_ “What is it Seoyeon?” He asked, looking at her laptop. _

_ “Jeongin isn’t the only boy to disappear like this, last year three boys from different parts of Korea went missing, one the year before and another the year before that, and two from Australia last year and in 2002! Maybe they’re connected. See last year three boys by the names of Hwang Hyunjin, Han Jisung and Kim Seungmin all went missing, they year before that a boy by the name of Seo Changbin went missing, and he was from a well off family too! And two years ago, Lee Minho went missing. Their parents all said similar things about the disappearances and they all happened not long after the children’s birthdays! Just like Jeongin.” _

_ “You should try and get in contact with them, maybe they may be able to help.” Junghee spoke, kissing Seoyeon’s head. _

_ “Hm, maybe. I’m getting closer to finding Jeongin, I just know it.” _

_ Jeongin had awoken thinking that he had yet another nightmare, but when he realized he was in a place he didn’t know and that his body was aching he began to panic. Where was he? Where were his parents? Why was he in pain? His mom promised to keep him safe so why did he feel unsafe? Jeongin looked around the room to see if maybe this was still a nightmare, his eyes falling on seven boys sitting over in a corner, some of them looking at him, some minding their business.  _

_ “H-hello?” Jeongin asked, his tiny fists gripping the blanket that was draped over him a little tighter. _

_ “Hi, I’m Bang Chan, welcome to District 9. You have a couple cuts and bruises, you put up quite the fight...” _

“Guys, we need to talk…” Chan panted out, hands on his knees and what seemed to be a piece of.. glass? in his hand. 

“What happened hyung?” Changbin asked.

“No, not here, we don’t know if anyone is listening.” Chan whispered, “later tonight, my room okay? I’ll leave all the bedroom doors unlocked.” 

“Okay, but, what is that in your hand?”

“I’ll explain later, let's finish our chores and then go to bed okay?” Chan said, the other seven nodding in obedience, going to finish the chores.

Jeongin stood there for a moment, his body refusing to move, he had a bad feeling. Why? He wasn’t sure, the only thing he knew was the feeling wasn’t about what would happen but what has already happened. The sinking feeling in his stomach pulled him slowly into despair, why did he feel this way? What had happened that caused this awful feeling in his gut. Jeongin turned his head towards the direction Chan had come from, quickly looking away when the feeling of nausea got worse. Surely some awful must’ve happened, but did Chan know about it? Jeongin supposed he would find out later when Chan explained what the hell was going on, for now he would just have to live with this aching feeling, he’d get over it eventually. Although he wanted an answer for this feeling he was afraid the answer would be something terrible and if it was that must mean Chan had witnessed something terrible. So for the sake of his older brother, Jeongin hoped the sinking feeling in his gut was wrong.

-caution-

“Youngsoo be careful! We’ve never been out this far and it’s going to get dark soon, I think we should just turn back and go home…”

“Quit being such a baby Hajoon, we needed to go far enough so we don’t hit any power lines, if you’re gonna be such a baby about it you can go home.” Youngsoo replied, sticking his tongue out at his younger sister.

“I’m not a baby you meanie! I’m eight years old now!” Hajoon replied with a whine, running as best as her little legs could to keep up with her older brother.

“And i’m ten now Hajoon! That makes you a baby!”

“Nuh uh! That’s only two years meanie!” 

“Whatever, just a little further okay?” 

“Fine, but then can we go find mommy and get some ice cream?” 

“Sure, as long as you stop whining.” Youngsoo said. He grabbed his little sister’s hand and continued to walk through the woods, holding his drone and it’s remote in his other hand. The two walked for a bit longer before Hajoon spoke again.

“Are you sure we aren’t too far Youngsoo?” She asked warily, clutching her teddy bear close.

“I’m sure, I remember the way back, don't worry.”

“Okay..”

The two arrived at a big clearing and Youngsoo cheered.

“This is perfect! No trees, no wires, just big open space to play with the drone!” He exclaimed, laying the drone down on the ground. Hajoon walked away to sit on a rock and watch as her brother played with his drone. Youngsoo turned the drone on and set it into flight, happily letting it fly around the area, until it seemed to get stuck.

“Huh?” Youngsoo mumbled, moving the drone back a little and making it move forward at full speed. The drone crashed through some sort of barrier, falling down outside of it. His eyes widened, and he looked over at Hajoon. 

“Joonie, stay there okay? I’ll be right back.”

“Why are you leaving me alone?” She whined.

“I’ll be quick, my drone fell so i’m going to go pick it up.”

“Okay.” Hajoon shrugged and continued to play with her teddy bear. Youngsoo ran over to where his drone crashed, looking up he saw the whole he created in the barrier. The young boy reached out to place his hand on the barrier, flinching back when his hand came into contact with it.

“Woah…” He mumbled, touching it again. He continued to poke at it until he saw two men appear out of nowhere. Immediately he knew he was in trouble and screamed at the top of his lungs as he ran. Hajoon’s head shot up at the sound of her brother’s scream, seeing him run away from the two men. 

“Joonie run!” The elder screamed, prompting the young girl to scramble off her rock and make a run for it. She flinched at the sound of gunshots, tears coming to her eyes as she could hear her brother’s cries of pain. Those sounds soon being cut off abruptly by the sounds of more gunshots. Hajoon knew she couldn’t outrun the scary men and she knew she wouldn’t be seeing her brother anymore after this. The girl knew she had to think fast, what could she do? Hajoon ducked behind a big tree, covering herself with some grass and leaves and threw her teddy bear a little further than where she was, staying completely quiet. She covered her mouth as tears streamed down her face, trying her best to keep quiet as she heard the two men run past where she was hidden.

“We’ll get that break fixed up later, we gotta find the fucking kid.” One of the men cursed.

Hajoon didn’t know how long she was hidden but she had fallen asleep, waking up it was dark. She could barely see as she looked around, hoping she was safe, she got up from her hiding spot. She began to walk, unsure of where she was going, she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to go home, she missed Youngsoo, she was heartbroken. As she walked she could hear people calling for her. Her mother, she could hear her mother.

“Mommy?!” She screamed back, now beginning to run, soon people with flashlights came into view, quickly the girl spotted her mother and began to cry as she ran into her arms.

“Hajoon! We were so worried! Are you okay? What happened… where’s your brother?”

-caution-

The last chore was quickly finished with all eight guys working on it and they all made their way back into the building to get ready to sleep, changing out of their all white attire into more all white clothing. The eight sat silently in their respective rooms until the lights shut off automatically, waiting for a few moments before leaving their rooms quietly to go to Chan’s room. Chan sat on his bed, lamp turned on.

“Okay, we have to be quiet just in case but… i think we can escape.” Chan whispered.

“Why? What happened?” Jeongin asked.

“I noticed that some weird light was shining into the garden and i went to check it out, there was a hole of light coming in and apparently theres some kind of invisible barrier around here…”

“What like a force field?” Jisung questioned quietly, his brows raising in curiosity.

“Exactly, we’ll have to be very careful while planning but I think maybe we can escape from here.”

“But where even is.. here? I mean… we all came from different places…” Felix said.

“Maybe we’re in Korea somewhere… most of us were living there at the time we were taen, plus we’re all Korean and all the signs here are written in Korean.” Minho explained.

“That makes sense, we need to figure out a plan.”

“I think… maybe we could come up with one.” Jisung said. “Felix and I were able to find and sneak into a hidden section of the library, surely there will be books in there that can help us plan an escape.”

“Okay.. okay this is good.”

“We need new clothes… if we escape looking like this we’re going to look like criminals.” Seungmin mentioned.

“Where are we going to get new clothes?”

“Maybe they kept our old clothes.”

“Okay genius, how do we fit into our clothes we wore when we were five?”

“We could turn them into new clothes… duh.”

“Can any of us even sew?”

“Maybe there’s a book in the library.”

“Yeah okay that works for me.” 

“I’m really tired, can we continue this conversation tomorrow?” Changbin whined.

“Wait, can we talk about how weird the monthly physical was this time?” Seungmin said. 

“Yeah, after the usual stuff I was directed to get in a tub and see how long I could hold my breath.” Felix mumbled.

“I was asked to touch water.” Jisung added.

“Yeah, mine was weird too… do you think this means something?”

“Probably, but we’ll talk about it later okay?” Chan said, motioning for everyone to return to their rooms. Once everyone had left Jeongin looked at Chan and picked at his fingers nervously.

“Chan.. can I talk to you about something?” He asked quietly, almost inaudible.

“Of course Innie, what’s up?”

“Well… lately I’ve been having dreams of us escaping. I told Felix about this and he said it was probably because I want to leave so bad but before I was brought here for over a year I had nightmares of exactly what happened to me…” Jeongin explained.

“Maybe.. You can see the future, but only in your sleep.” Chan suggested.

“You don’t really think that, do you hyung?”

“Maybe that’s why we’re all here, maybe we all have powers or something and we just don’t know it yet. Come to think of it, that would explain a lot of things. Why our tests are tailored to us and stuff.”

“What did they make you do for your test Chan?”

“They had me outrun some robots, they were moving at like a hundred miles an hour. Oh and try to lift some heavy stuff.”

“Maybe your power is super human strength and speed.”

“Maybe, you try and get some rest okay, let me know if your dream changes okay?”

“I will, thank you.”

“Of course Innie, maybe we should try and test ourselves at our own pace, without them knowing.” Chan mumbled to himself as Jeogin left for his own room. Jeongin was a little more relaxed now, maybe the dream would change, but if it didn’t maybe that meant they were going the right path. He was unsure for now, all he knew was to find out, he’d have to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> summary of the minor's death: a pair of siblings, Hajoon (8 years old) and her older brother Youngsoo (10 years old) venture far into the woods until they come to a clearing where Youngsoo decides it's the perfect place to play with his drone. However his drone crashes through the barrier of District 9, which was invisible to the two children. Quickly two guards come out and chase the two, Hajoon is able to run further ahead and unfortunately hears as Youngsoo is murdered. She finds a place to hide and accidentally falls asleep. She survives and is eventually found by her mother and a search party.


End file.
